Photos by Marc Fong

A band amidst a reformation, Sigur Rós proved this week they are back in a major way after a four year hiatus and the loss of a core band member earlier this year. Their dreamy, ambient but oftentimes intense style of music remains intact, however they have evolved their sound to be more assertive than the direction they took with their extremely mellow 2012 album Valtari. Sigur Rós appears to be going in a new direction, which they put on display for a captive audience at The Fox Theater, Oakland Tuesday.

Making their second Bay Area appearance in less than a year (they sub-headlined Outside Lands 2012), Sigur Rós demonstrated this new sound immediately by opening the show with a new song titled “Yfirborð”. “Kveikur,” “Hrafntinna,” and “Brennisteinn” are also new songs that were performed throughout the show. “Brennisteinn” is a perfect example of their new, more “aggressive” sound – just watch the music video. In addition to these excellent new tracks, Sigur Rós demonstrated they still have the ability to nail their classics, despite the departure of keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson earlier this year. Sigur Rós delighted with fan favorites such as “Svefn-g-englar,” “Hoppípolla” and “Glósóli,” to name a few. Although they now call themselves a “trio,” there was an accompanying string and horn section, as well as a percussionist/keyboardist and backing guitars.

The magical, etherial sounds of Sigur Rós would not be complete without steller visuals to accompany the music. Abstract video and the band member silhouettes were projected on a giant transparent screen draped in front of the stage for the first few songs before it was dramatically dropped at a peak moment, revealing the entire band behind it. Behind the band was a massive, movable video screen that played accompanying video throughout the entire show.

Frontman Jónsi looks poised to take this band to new heights and nothing should stop him. Jónsi’s spellbinding voice and guitar have always been a signature of Sigur Rós, and that has not changed one bit. Sigur Rós held the audience captive Tuesday and delivered a knockout set.

We can expect a few of the new songs we heard on Tuesday to appear on their upcoming album Kveikur, which is scheduled to drop June 18.

Setlist:
Yfirborð
Ný Batterí
Vaka
Hrafntinna
Sæglópur
Svefn-g-englar
Varúð
Hoppípolla
Með Blóðnasir
Olsen Olsen
Kveikur
Festival
Brennisteinn

Encore:
Glósóli
Popplagið